Mercedes Reveals Smallest AMG Ever

While Mercedes unveiled the completely redesigned and repurposed A Class last year already, we were all not so quietly hoping that there really would be an AMG version – it would be a departure for the three-pointed star, a foray into a world they simply hadn’t played in before.

But here it is, and I am more than happy to admit that it looks fantastic. Aesthetically, I think they’ve nailed it, and it seems they’ve given it the powerplant required to match the show.

The baby of Alftalterbach will be called the A45 AMG, and will feature a turbocharged 2 litre petrol unit, driving either the front or all four wheels. Given the power on tap though, I would certainly go for AWD.

The engine will be handbuilt, in keeping with AMG’s one man, one engine philosophy, and has a pretty incredible power to displacement ration. With 264kW and 450Nm of torque, this is the world’s most powerful mass produced 4cyl engine, with 132kW per litre of displacement.

If you’ll allow me a moment of car nerdism, to put that figure in perspective, the new Dodge Viper, with the world’s biggest production engine, an 8.4 litre V10, makes do with 477kW. That’s a paltry 56kW per litre! With the Merc specs, the Viper should be pushing out over 1100kW.

Back to the Merc though, the headline figures look very good indeed. A limited top speed of 250km/h, much like it’s bigger AMG siblings, but an astonishing 0 – 100km/h sprint time of 4.6 seconds, all while producing 161g/km of CO2. Those are very, very interesting numbers.

The interior looks like a particular highlight. Those bucket seats look excellent and I really like what they’ve done with the dash. Audi’s A3 is leading the pack with interiors at the moment, and the A Class shares similar design traits, which is no bad thing.

Prices aren’t available as yet but full details will be revealed in the first week of March at the Geneva Motor Show.

Here in SA we’re expecting the new A Class (not the AMG for a while though) in Mercedes showrooms around April/May, possibly sooner.